Where are you from?

[liv]

Hello, everybody! The community seems to have picked up nearly 30 members, and you've come up with some great suggestions for my Angels theme.

This prompt might be a bit more challenging, but hopefully a good way to get to know one another: Can you make a playlist of songs that mention where you come from? Obviously this is easier if you happen to live in New York than if you live in the middle of nowhere (I live in an unromantic, small post-industrial city in the English Midlands, so I know I'm going to struggle). If there aren't any songs that mention your town, feel free to use your state, province, region, or even country if you prefer.

(Also, people who are not me should make new posts! I've set up the community so that anyone can post, you don't even have to be a member. Don't worry too much about the tagging; the community is small enough that I can handle it for the time being.)

Comments

[hebinekohime]

Here's what I got:

Lemon D, "This Is Los Angeles"
Ana Voog, "Hollywood" (Juno Reactor 12'' Mix)
Killing Joke, "Hollywood Babylon"
Barry Adamson, "Hollywood Sunset"

[liv]

Nice! I thought LA would probably mean having to use California, but I forgot about Hollywood.

[ninetydegrees]

Wow. That's a really hard challenge. I don't even know enough songs about my country as a whole. I think I'll pass this one. :)

[liv]

Sorry! I more or less assumed that at least the country level would be doable for everybody. Mind you I found it surprisingly hard to come up with songs about England (rather than about London, where I don't live, or about Scotland, Wales or Ireland).

[ninetydegrees]

That's exactly my problem. Finding songs about parts of my country? Easy. Finding songs about my country or the place where I live? Hard.

[ninety6tears]

Well, Sufjan Stevens wrote an entire album about Illinois. I think the closest town to mine he mentioned in any of the songs was Decatur.

[liv]

Heh, that was very convenient of Sufjan Stevens. He appears to be the go-to person for relatively less known places in the US.

[softestbullet]

No one writes songs about my home state in the US, let alone my tiny hometown. :( However, if I cheat and use the state I was born in (Michigan), I get some:

Rilo Kiley, "Paint's Peeling"
and the whole Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lakes State by Sufjan Stevens

[liv]

No songs, that's a shame, sorry! But nice one coming up with some songs for Michigan; Sufjan Stevens turns up trumps again!

[rockunroll]

That is a tricky one. Only song I can think of that mentions Glasgow is ABBA's "Super Trouper" !

[liv]

You're right, Glasgow doesn't get a lot of song attention. Nice one thinking of ABBA, though.

[rose_gialle]

Down Under - Men at Work
This Is Australia - Midnight Oil
Sydney - Puddle of Mud
Sydney Song - Eskimo Joe

[liv]

Funny, I was just listening to Down under when I got this comment notification. Cool that you actually have some songs about your city, too. There's always Manic Street Preachers: Australia if you want to add another Oz-themed song to your list!

[tree]

oh good, i can just borrow yours! :D

[liv]

It turns out that all I have protest songs about how English politics is messed up. There are good things about my country, honest, I just can't think of any songs that mention them! What I've got is:

Levellers: England my home
The Clash: English Civil War
Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen
And the neo-folk classic, Hard times of old England

[lurkingcat]

You'd think that living in the city that produced Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky I wouldn't be having so much trouble with this but most of the lyrics that I can find for Bristol are either talking about Bristol in the US or Harvey's Bristol Cream (Carter: USM being the culprit for the latter).

There are a couple of references to local places in Tricky's Knowle West Boy album (and Knowle West is just across the road from me):
Batcative
School Gates

Also:
Tricky - Bristol to London
Goldie Lookin Chain - Guns Don't Kill People Rappers Do

Monty Python's All For One mentions Brave Sir Robin who slew the Bristol Chicken.

Country-related songs:
New Model Army - Smalltown England
Gilbert & Sullivan - A British Tar is a Soaring Soul (from HMS Pinafore)
Florrie Ford - Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty
Billy Bragg - A New England
Placebo - English Summer Rain

[liv]

Well done on finding at least a couple of Bristol songs! And your England collection is great too. I feel silly for forgetting English summer rain, cos that's one of my favourite songs; I think I had it filed in my head as being about rain, rather than about England.